This invention relates to a shower curtain closure for closing off one or both generally vertical side edges of the curtain against a wall of a shower stall, tub enclosure or the like. Such closure is provided along one or both shower curtain edges, depending on the dimensions and other characteristics of the shower unit for which the closure is designed. In a preferred embodiment, the shower closure comprises a length of plastic tubing that can be cut to a preferred length, a tube support ring, and an elongate vertically oriented wall receptacle into which the tube matingly fits. The tube is passed through a sleeve along the side of the curtain and is suspended from the curtain support rod by the ring connected to the upper end of the tubing and passing over the shower curtain rod. The wall receptacle is adhesively mounted on a wall of the shower enclosure at the location of the intended shower curtain closure. The receptacle is shaped to releasably secure the shower curtain sleeve with the tube therein. The curtain may be slipped off the tube to permit the curtain to be laundered or replaced without having to replace the tube. The receptacle retains the shower curtain in place and impedes water from splashing between the edges of the shower curtain and the shower walls onto the bathroom floor.
Conventionally, shower curtains hang freely from a horizontal rod or bar with no side connection to vertical walls of the shower stalls or shower/bath units. Consequently, water can easily escape between the sides of the curtain and the walls and splash outside of the shower unit, risking damage to the bathroom walls and floor and increasing the risk of injury from slipping on a wet floor surface. Various attempts have been made to solve this problem.
The majority of the prior solutions to the problem require the use of diverse strips or bars that adhere to a wall and are designed to receive a connecting component holding the shower curtain in place, therefore forming an impermeable seal. Many of the previous solutions, however, are complicated and costly or require too many changes in the design of ordinary curtains to be commercially appealing to curtain manufacturers. Such relatively complicated solutions are proposed for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,001 granted to Smith and U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,915 granted to Siewert.
White in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,919 designed a permanent attachment of an elongated connecting flexible rod to the edge of a shower curtain. A similar solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,77,517 granted to Bonanno, who also proposes a permanent attachment of a specific connecting component to the edges of the curtain. These solutions are relatively simple, but do not offer the possibility of laundering curtains by standard laundry equipment, as demanded by a large portion of the current shower-curtain market, especially by the hospitality industry. In addition, in the case of Bonanno""s invention, connecting devices fastened to the outside edge of the shower curtain could possibly tear the curtain material if pulled hard or accidentally caught by a moving object.
Another previously proposed solution is to engage the curtain by a loose connecting bar that is placed into and supported by a wall attachment component having the form of a channel. This solution does not require any modification of the shower curtain. However, to combine all components of the invention into a waterproof system that best serves its purpose requires skill and patience, considering the fact that the engaging bar is not attached to the shower curtain. Examples of this type of shower curtain closure are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,806 granted to Armstrong and U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,547 granted to Riekse.
The majority of the previously described solutions are not functionally designed to have adequate versatility that would enable customers or installers to easily adapt and mount the sealing system in shower areas of different heights with differently situated shower rods, and to use more or less standard curtain design with the possibility of ready removal and replacement of curtains for laundering. There is an unsatisfied demand for an inexpensive, uncomplicated and effective solution to the side closure problem, for use with ordinary shower curtains, that would offer the possibility of ready removal of the curtain for laundering or cleaning by conventional methods.
An object of the present invention is to provide a shower curtain side closure that is economical, effective and easily adaptable for manufacture and use, and can make use of shower curtains substantially as currently manufactured, or requiring at most a minor modification of the side hem or hems of the curtain.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shower curtain side closure that is easily detachable and completely removable from the shower curtain, thereby affording the possibility of laundering or cleaning the shower curtain by conventional methods without special equipment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shower curtain closure that is simple to install, maintain and use in a shower stall or the like of a wide range of sizes.
In accordance with the foregoing objectives, there is provided an improved shower curtain closure for use with a shower curtain having a sleeve along at least one side of the curtain. The closure comprises an insertable tube (or equivalent) for insertion into the sleeve, and a wall-mountable receptacle having a channel for releasably securing the sleeve of the curtain with the tube inserted. For convenience and brevity of description, herein only xe2x80x9ctubexe2x80x9d will appear rather than a more elaborate phrase such as xe2x80x9ctube or rod or equivalentxe2x80x9d. The term xe2x80x9ctubexe2x80x9d used herein, is intended to refer to a relatively stiff insertable elongate element that is not necessarily of circular cylindrical shape and not necessarily hollow. When the tube is inside the sleeve, the tube will readily engage the channel of the receptacle so that the receptacle channel flanges can grip the sleeve with the tube inserted therein, providing a relatively secure engagement, yet an engagement that the person taking the shower can readily disrupt simply by pulling on the side of the shower curtain, thereby to release the sleeve and tube from the channel of the elongate receptacle.
For purposes of reduction of manufacturing expense and reduction of weight, the tube is preferably hollow, generally cylindrical, and preferably made of plastics material; however, it could instead be a solid cylindrical dowel or rod or have polygonal cross-section. Design compromises may have to be made in the choice of tube shape, dimensions and material. Softer, more flexible materials are less likely to do any damage to the shower curtain during the step of insertion of the tube into the shower curtain sleeve. Stiffer, harder materials, however, may be somewhat easier to insert into the receptacle channel over the entire length of the channel. While light weight is advantageous, if the tube is too flimsy, the tube may be irreversibly bent or damaged. Different choices of materials and dimensions of the tube may be made depending upon whether the shower curtain material is expected to be woven fabric on the one hand, or is expected to be sheet plastics material on the other hand.
In a preferred embodiment, the insertable tube should be resilient, inexpensive, and adequately strong to meet the repetitive securing/releasing demands of the user. Conveniently the insertable tube may be provided at one end (the upper end in use) with a hole or hook or ring connector through which a conventional shower curtain support ring may be inserted, whereby the tube may be suspended from the shower curtain support rod at one end of the shower enclosure (or closures of this type may be provided at both ends of the enclosure, if the user so wishes). In another embodiment of the invention, the insertable tube may be provided at one end (the upper end in use) with a loop whereby the tube may be suspended, e.g. from a bracket mounted on the wall of the shower enclosure.
The receptacle is preferably an elongate double-flanged element made of suitable resilient material whose planar base portion may be attached to the shower enclosure wall, preferably adhesively, so that the receptacle extends generally vertically in about the plane of the hanging shower curtain. Each of the side edges of the receptacle is bent inwardly thereby forming a pair of opposed gripping flanges that with the base form a securing channel for receiving the rod or tube inside the sleeve. The space between the gripping flanges at the distal edges thereof should be somewhat less than the diameter of the insertable tube (or at least less than the combined thickness of the tube inserted within the sleeve of the shower curtain). The distance between the flanges at their line of juncture with the base is greater than that combined thickness. The flanges extend outwardly from the base sufficiently that their distal edges lie more than halfway across the tube in the curtain sleeve when the tube and sleeve have been fully inserted into the receptacle, thereby securing the curtain hem in place within the receptacle. Advantageously the underside of the base of the receptacle (that side opposite the side on which the flanges lie) may be provided with an adhesive layer coating covered by a strip of release paper for ease of mounting the receptacle on the shower enclosure wall.
The receptacle may alternatively comprise a plurality of discrete claw-like gripping elements installable as a vertically spaced series. Each discrete gripping element may have a base and inwardly bent side edges forming a securing channel for receiving a portion of the rod or tube inside the sleeve. While the gripping elements may be individually attached to the wall, conveniently the gripping elements may be mounted on a strip base for structural integrity, ease of manufacture, ease of adhesive mounting, and controlled spacing.
Both the insertable tube and the receptacle may be cut from extruded plastics stock material of the preferred cross-section and sold in oversize lengths, permitting the purchaser to cut the receptacle to fit the enclosure wall and the rod or tube to fit the particular shower curtain for which it is intended. Both the tubing material and the receptacle material can be manufactured in unlimited lengths that can be cut first of all to meet standard packages for sale to the consumer, and second of all, cut to length by the consumer for use in any discrete location. The distance between the bathtub ledge or shower stall sill and the top of the curtain as it hangs from the shower curtain suspension rod are quite variable from situation to situation. It follows that the ability of the customer to cut the receptacle and the tubing to length is of significant advantage, while from a manufacturing standpoint, a low cost of production is achieved by using extruded stock for both receptacle and tubing.
Since fabric shower curtains may normally be provided with side hems as a matter of routine manufacture, it is easy for such curtains to be manufactured so that at least one side includes a sleeve large enough to accommodate an insertable tube of a convenient cross-section. The fit of the sleeve over the tube (whether the shower curtain is made of fabric or sheet plastics material) should be loose enough to permit easy insertion, but not so loose as to interfere with ease of insertion of the sleeve with tube inside into the receptacle. The curtain should also be readily capable of removal from the tube so that it can be laundered or cleaned. Conveniently the sleeve is formed in both sides of the curtain so that the curtain may be hung in either orientation to accommodate an enclosure whose shower nozzle is at either end of the enclosure. Closures may be provided along both walls bordering on the shower enclosure opening if desired.
The sleeve may be formed on the side of the curtain either by sewing, if a fabric curtain is to accommodate the closure device of the present invention, or by a suitable heat-seal method if a suitable plastics material such as vinyl is to be used. Neither one of these two methods obliges shower curtain manufacturers to install new manufacturing equipment in order to accommodate the present invention.
The closure of the invention facilitates a simple one-step action to secure or disengage the shower curtain side edge to or from the adjacent wall(s) without any special effort and without fear of tearing the shower curtain. After inserting the resilient tube into the wall receptacle, the closure blocks the water from splashing outside of the shower unit and thus protects the bathroom floor and objects near the shower from accidental wetting.
Note that in the preferred installation, the curtain does not bear the weight of the plastic tube and can be easily disengaged from the tube, facilitating cleaning or laundering of the curtain using conventional cleaning or laundry equipment. These attributes of the invention coupled with the ease of cut-to-length manufacture and installation by the end user are important to manufacturers, installers and final users, contributing both to low cost of manufacture, convenience of installation, and convenience of use.